Month: September 2014

November last year, Tiger Airways fixed a new route from Singapore to Male. And here’s where the story starts.

Me being me, flight promotion has always been my weakness and I just had to share this deal. Though I didnt expect my virus to spread like wild fire, I am honoured to say, in 3 days, flights were booked and our chartered boat was 90% full. And that’s where we started our 1 year count down.

By the way, my name is Michelle, or commonly known as Mitch and here is a story of my buddies and I in Maldives for 10 Days! 🙂

And the countdown starts! 365 days… 262 days… and finally 5 more days!

The last 12 hours of any countdown is always the most agonising. 10 days worth of packing wasn’t fun at all (no laundry, mind you)! And finally, by 11 Sep 2014, we are all packed, ready to go and talking about breakfast at the Airport before leaving for Male!

The 5 Hours flight on Tiger Airways isnt the most comfortable one, especially if you have longer legs. Remember to get the extra leg room! Lucky for me, I was knocked out from the all the excitement the night before. I was sound asleep and woke up to a pleasant surprise…

and…

Photo by: William El Lim

Photo by: William El Lim

YES! This is Maldives! It is true when they say, MALDIVES IS BEAUTIFUL! Our liveaboard dive wasn’t starting till 13 Sep 2014. So after clearing the Male customs, we made our way to check-in at the Hulhumale Inn.

Happy Tony arrives at Male!

The transfer from the Airport only took about 5 minutes. We were a group of 21 Pax, so 1 mini-bus and 1 mini-van was arranged.

Checking-In was a little delayed at Hulhumale Inn as they had a change of management 3 days before our arrival and there were rooms to be re-allocated. So everything took a little longer than we expected. But with everyone’s involvement in trying to get things done, we managed to finish 21 Pax’s check-in in 40 minutes, with lots of chitter-chatter and laughter.

Hulhumale Inn is situated at Hulhumale (yeah, duh!), rooms are reasonable for the price we paid (Standard Triple is about S$30+ per night). A little small, but comparing to the posh hotels that costs 100 times more, I guess I am glad to not have rooms that are 100 times worse. If you are looking for somewhere away from the hustle and bustle for a transit night. It’s pretty good here. The resort manager Muaz was warm and helpful! He even offered to show us around Male town and made sure we paid the right amount for what we were buying. Just 1 Con – Melody the lucky woman slept too tight and got the bed bugs’ bite! #204 – Check out for the bugs if you are given that room.

So after checking in, we had lunch at Bombay Darbar, which was right beside Hulhumale Inn. They serve really good Briyani and Tandoori Chicken! I tried the Briyani but not the Tandoori Chicken though.

Food took a while to be served. So if you are going in large group, pre-order your meal!

After lunch, it’s time for our search for 4G connection and we opted for the local way of travelling to town. We took a public bus, followed by their local water taxi to get to Male Town. Not that we blend in with the locals having 21 pax travelling together, but we tried.

Photo by: William El Lim

At Male town, we flooded every store that we went into , leaving our footsteps and laughter everywhere we went and that pretty much sums up our first day in Male. If it still does not entice you enough, everywhere in Maldives, around the 1,192 islands, the water looks like this.

Stay tuned, for Part 2 to see more about our Liveaboard and Maldives diving!